Magic on Changeling Mountain

It was without a doubt the quietest ride they had ever taken together. Colin drove straight to her cottage and walked her to her door. She stopped on the top step and asked “Would you like to go on patrol with me? I can go early if you want to run up to Wainwright’s place with me.”

“I would but I don’t want to leave her alone. I’ll go see him tomorrow while she is at your office.” Colin said.

“Colin, try not to worry. I promise tomorrow I’ll give her a full checkup, run every test in the book that I can and I’m pretty sure we are going to find out that she just needs to start taking some vitamins and may need glasses.

I think her eyesight is changing and that’s what’s giving her headaches. I noticed she was squinting at the labels when we were putting things away today. As far as the dizziness is concerned, she may need some iron and protein rich food and maybe some vitamins but that’s all.

Their diet up there has been great for a wolf but their human diet has been very lacking in dairy and fresh vegetables, especially leafy green ones. You know my dad is a bear and loves his meat but his human side eats as much salad as my mom can get him to eat and luckily, he likes it too.”

“Yeah, I’ve gotten used to your mothers vegetarian cooking and I must admit I like it too but there’s nothing like a good steak either.” Colin said, his mouth watering just thinking about it. “We need to stop talking about food. I’m getting hungry. Come to think of it, we fed her but didn’t eat anything for dinner ourselves.”

“Well, I hate to say it but my shelves are pretty bare. I purposely didn’t do any grocery shopping for about a week before we left because I thought we were going to be gone longer. But I might be able to scrounge up some canned soup, if you want?”

“How about we go into town and get some dinner? Or we could go down to Ruby Tuesdays and get a couple of steaks!”

“Ok. I could eat. Hang on though and let me use the bathroom and change my shirt.” Carolyn said as she unlocked her front door. She quickly took care of business in the bathroom and then changed into a pretty sweater. Colin was standing at her front window looking out at the snow that was softly falling outside.

“Looks like it’s not done snowing yet.” Colin told her as he turned away from the window and saw her. She looked so pretty and his heart skipped a beat, like it always did when he saw her, as she walked towards him. He still couldn’t believe that she had agreed to become his wife and that in less than 2 months, they would be married.

He helped her with her coat and then opened the door for her. He was determined to act like they were on a regular date and he would not rush because he wanted to cherish every minute he had her all to himself.

They rode down to the restaurant and enjoyed a very nice meal. Colin felt much more relaxed and less worried by the time he dropped her home. He said goodnight, and after her goodnight kiss, he wished with all of his heart that he could have stayed with her but he left and drove carefully back to his parents’ house. He texted Carolyn to let her know he had made it back safely before going into the house.

He checked on his mother, who was sleeping peacefully, and then went to watch TV for a little while. He was going to have to get them a new TV one of these days. The old box style one they had now had been in the living room since he was a kid and the picture was nowhere near as sharp and clear as the flat screen he had at his apartment. Maybe he would just give them his since they had already decided that he would be moving in with Carolyn and she had almost the exact same TV as he did in her cottage.

He channel surfed for a while but couldn’t find anything on that he wanted to watch. He found a music station and left it on as he reclined on the sofa and let his mind wander over all that had been going on.

Their lives had certainly been full and busy, to say the least. He was hopeful that things would calm down and they could just focus on the wedding, as soon as they determined what was up with his mother’s health. He suddenly had a scary thought of if this was happening to his mother, wouldn’t it also be true that his father was having the same issues? It was all he could do to not call Tammy and beg her to take him to get his father.

He got up from the sofa, unable to rest now, and walked over to the window. The snow was still falling but just barely. He prayed that it would end soon and start to melt. It was the beginning of the second week of February and that realization made him remember Valentine’s Day was just a few days away. He had already bought Carolyn a present, a locket that he had had engraved “My heart will always belong to you. Love, Colin”. He had debated about saving it for their wedding day but had come across something online that he hoped would get here in time but if it didn’t he would save it for that. It was a pendant that he had designed himself with the program he had found online. It was a wolf head facing a panther head, touching noses as if they were kissing. The wolf was done in gold and the panther was done in silver. The overall shape looked like a heart. He had hoped it would get here in time for Valentine’s Day so he had bought the locket as his back up in case it didn’t arrive in time.

He looked at the clock and it was already well after 10 and he figured he had probably better get to bed and try to get some rest, even if he didn’t sleep. He checked on his mother who seemed to be sleeping peacefully then went on down to his own bedroom, with a quick stop in the bathroom.

He entered his childhood bedroom and stripped out of his clothes, draping them over the chair in the corner. He walked over to the window and looked outside. The snow had stopped and the moon was almost full. The mountain looked so beautiful covered in white and that made him think of Carolyn again and how beautiful she looked in her white coat. He wondered if she would keep it or change back to the black one when winter was over.

He finally gave in and stretched out on his bed with his hands behind his head. He longed for the day when he would not have to sleep alone. He drifted off to sleep filled with dreams of Carolyn.

The next morning, Carolyn woke up early which surprised her. She stretched and then shoved her legs off of the bed and stood up. She stretched again and then headed for the bathroom. She emptied her bladder and then stripped off her clothes and took a shower. She brushed her teeth and then went back into the bedroom to get dressed.

She thought about calling Randy and asking him to come in early but since Mrs. Noble was going to be her first patient, it might be better if he wasn’t there. She was going to give her a complete physical, including a pap smear and full pelvic examination. She wasn’t going to leave even a single stone unturned to make sure that her future mother in law was going to be Ok.

She had a quick breakfast of coffee and a bagel and then went down to the clinic. She was there an hour earlier than she normally would have been because she wanted to have everything she would need ready when they got there. She wasn’t at all surprised when Colin escorted his mother in just as she opened the front door and turned on the neon open sign.

“Good morning! How are you feeling this morning?” Carolyn asked after she gave Colin a quick kiss.

“I feel fine. A good nights’ sleep did wonders.” Sarah said.

“Well, let’s make doubly sure that was all you needed. I’ve got everything ready, so Colin, help yourself to come coffee and have a seat and we’ll be back in a little while.” She said as she took Sarah’s arm to walk with her back to the exam room.

“Colin is being totally overprotective and while it’s beginning to get a little irritating it’s also nice to know he cares so much.” Sarah said.

“You are his mother, of course he loves you.” Carolyn said, surprised that Sarah would even make such a statement. “Strip down and put on this gown and I’ll be back in a minute.” Carolyn told her, pointing to the paper gown that lay on the examination table.

“Is that really necessary?” Sarah said.

“Mrs. Noble, I promised to give you a full physical. You said it had been years since you’ve had one. A full physical includes a pap smear and pelvic exam.

I can understand if you would rather go to a gynecologist, since I am going to be your daughter in law soon but they are going to charge you an outrageous fee whereas my services are free because you are about to become family.

Let’s put Colin’s mind totally at rest that everything is fine and that I left no stone unturned, otherwise he is going to insist that you go before you go back to Canada and he’s going to worry us both to death about it. I rather he is focusing on our wedding.” Carolyn hoped her explanation would end any arguments, which it did.

Carolyn left the exam room and walked down the hall to talk to Colin.

“Done already?” He asked as he jumped up, nearly spilling the coffee he had just poured for himself, that he didn’t really need since he had already drank half a pot of coffee before they left this morning.

“No, she’s getting undressed and putting on a paper gown. The exam will take about half an hour and Randy should be getting here soon. Are you going to go up and see Mr. Pence about the bobcat?” Carolyn knew he would sit out here and jump at every sound. Going to see Mr. Pence would keep him busy for a little while at least.

“Oh, right. I almost forgot about that.” Colin admitted.

“Well, go on then. I’ll show her around here and give her a chance to see what I do. It’s called woman bonding time.” Carolyn said.

“Ok. I’ll be back as quickly as I can.” Colin said with a smile and a quick kiss.

Carolyn watched him walk out the door and then turned back to walk down the hall to the exam room. She knocked on the door and at Sarah’s “come in” she slowly opened it to find Sarah sitting on the exam table in the paper gown.

“Ready?” She asked.

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Sarah replied with a smile.

Carolyn took her blood pressure and pulse, checked her weight and then drew some blood. She listened to her heart beat and lungs and felt around her neck to check her glands, which were a little swollen but not enough to cause alarm. Then she told her to lie down and put her feet in the stirrups. She collected for the pap smear and did the pelvic exam. Everything felt normal and she told her she could get dressed. “I’m going to go look at this stuff under the microscope and I’ll be back in a few minutes. You can either wait in here or go to the lobby and get some coffee. Colin went up to see Mr. Pence about the bobcat but he should be back soon.”

Carolyn carried the tray holding Sarah’s samples back to where she had her microscope set up and she prepared the slides. Randy showed up right on time and she showed him what she was doing. She would view the slide and then tell him to look and describe what he saw.

“I feel like I’m back in 9th grade science class.” He joked before he looked in and tried to describe what it was he was seeing.

“Cindy was very good at this part. While I never left it totally up to her, I usually always let her look first and tell me what she thought. Thankfully most of what we’ve seen has been normal but when we are treating changelings, someone’s life could depend on what we see so we have to take this part very seriously.

I would suggest you study up on this part. You know it just occurred to me that I never asked what field of study you plan to pursue when you go to college.”

“Cindy and I were heading in the same direction but my family has more kids living at home and my folks couldn’t afford my tuition. I’m staying at home now trying to save enough money to go but it’s going to take me a while. I wanted to ask if you have any issues with me working a second job?”

“Doing what?”

“Pizza delivery. One of the guys that has been working as the delivery driver at Tony’s is quitting and they need someone for the weekend and evening shifts. I’ll be able to wait tables inside on weekends until someone calls for a delivery and then it’s up to me to get it there while it’s still reasonably hot.”

“No problem with that at all. Tony has good pizza. Colin and I go there often. Maybe we’ll see you there.” Carolyn said “But back to business here. Now there are some things I cannot do here because I don’t have the right equipment so I send this off to the lab in town.

One of the girls that works there is a changeling and she will run the tests for me without telling anyone that she can see animal DNA in the specimens. We just have to mark the package with “Attn: Katherine Kincaid”.

The address is in the blue book on the shelf under the cash register.” Carolyn told him as she packed the specimens in the special box that had the divider that would keep the test tubes separated so they would not bang together and break.

“There are also labels on that shelf that mark it as medical specimen samples and fragile. I need you to drive it over there and make sure you get a time stamped receipt for it. Even though you are driving it over there, it has to have the address you are delivering it to on the box. I don’t want to scare you but it’s in case you were in an accident. Medical services would take it from there as well as getting you to the hospital.

This is not an emergency so take your time but don’t stop anywhere, except for stop lights of course, on your way there.” Carolyn instructed him.

“I’ll get this finished up and take it right over there.” Randy said.

“Good. Be careful driving but come right back. We’ve got one of my regular patients coming in at 10:30 this morning. A Great Dane that I’ve been treating since he was a puppy but he’s now the size of a small horse. I need your muscles!” Carolyn teased.

Randy smiled at her and took the package to the front of the clinic. A few minutes later he called out that he was leaving and went out. Just as the back door closed on him, the front door opened and Colin came inside.

“Did you run up there in your wolf form?” Carolyn asked as he came down the hall looking for them. Just then Sarah came out of the restroom and they all met in the hall.

Colin admitted that he had with a nod but said “Mr. Pence doesn’t have a problem with me using the bobcat at all. Now I just have to figure out how to get it from there to our place. With the tracks on it, I can’t drive it on the road. It would tear the county road to pieces and I would be responsible for fixing it. So either I have to rent a truck and trailer or drive it across a lot of homesteads.”

“I bet Ralph will have some answers for you. He’s having to haul all kinds of stuff for work and I’ve seen him driving a truck with a trailer that should be able to handle it.” Carolyn said.

“Yeah, I thought about him but I don’t want to get him in any trouble with his job.” Colin said.

“Oh, Sheriff, I don’t think management will mind helping you out.” Carolyn teased.

“That’s exactly why I won’t go to Ralph or ask a favor of his boss either. I don’t want special treatment just because I’m the sheriff and could make their lives hell, if I was that kind of man, but will offer to rent it.” Colin said, sternly but trying not to sound like he was scolding.

“Like I said, you will be mayor of this town someday.” Carolyn teased him some more.

“Oh Governor, at the very least.” Sarah teased him too.

“The world’s first honest politician? I don’t think so. They would never let me in.” Colin he teased back then turned serious. “So how’s my mom?”

“She’s going to be taking some iron pills and if you take her to see the eye doctor in town, she might need glasses but other than that, she’s fine from what I can see so far. Randy just took her samples to the lab and I should have the results later today.

From what I found in the preliminaries, she doesn’t have anything to worry about. She just needs some rest and vitamins to supplement a better diet. There are lots of salads in your future, Mrs. Noble. It’s a good thing you came back to the mountain for more reasons than our wedding.” Carolyn said.

She did not want to scare them but if left unchecked, her soon to be mother in laws diagnosis could have been bad if she had not gotten attention. From what Carolyn could tell of her blood work so far, Sarah was becoming anemic but unlike Tammy’s parents who had been in the advanced stages of it, Sarah was just in the beginning phases. Her heavy meat based diet made the difference but that could also be damaging her kidneys and liver.

“Will do. Next stop, the eye doctor!” Colin said as he gave his mom a one armed hug.

“Uh, Colin? You need to make an appointment?” Carolyn grinned at him.

“Oh yeah, right. Will do! Hopefully there’s not a long waiting list.” Colin said, rather shamefaced.

“How about I call?” Carolyn said.

“Thanks, sweetie. We don’t have a phone at the house yet.” Sarah said with a smile.

Carolyn called the Ophthalmologists office and made an appointment for that afternoon. She wrote down the time, address and doctor’s name on a piece of paper and handed it to Sarah. “I guess there’s no chance you have medical insurance?”

“No, I don’t but then I’ve never really been sick.” Sarah said. “Why? Is that going to be an issue?”

“Only that since he’s a specialist, it could get kind of pricey. Before you commit to ordering glasses from him, come back and see me and we’ll see if we can’t find some cheaper than what his will undoubtedly cost.”

“Deal.” Sarah said.

“So, where are you guys off too?” Carolyn asked.

“We’re going to see about renting a trailer to take the bobcat up to our place to fix the road. Don’t worry, I’ll have her at the eye doctor’s on time.” Colin said.

“Ok. Well, I’ve got a couple of appointments coming in soon and I need to get ready for them. One of them is Mr. Anderson’s Great Dane. I sure do hope Randy gets back before he gets here.” Carolyn said.

“Want me to stay until he gets back or Mr. Anderson gets here?” Colin offered.

As if on cue, Randy walked in the back door and the patient with the puppy that had to be neutered walked in the front. “Ok. Time for me to get back to work. I should be free by lunch time, if you want to meet me at the diner in town?” Carolyn asked hopefully.

“Sure. About 12?” Colin said and gave her a quick kiss. He helped his mother put her coat back on and then they left while Carolyn checked in the puppy. Randy was right at her elbow as he watched everything she did. They assured the owner, Mrs. Kirkland, that they would call her when it was time to pick the puppy up.

Randy got the tray ready for the procedure and Carolyn was impressed that he had remembered everything. “Very good. Now if you can just hold him down while I give him the shot to make him sleep.”

Randy was turning out to be a very good assistant. He only winced once when Carolyn snipped the puppy’s testacies and she couldn’t help but laugh.

Randy also turned out to be a big help when Mr. Anderson showed up with Goliath in tow and towing him was exactly what Mr. Anderson was having to do. The large dog had planted his feet and was refusing to enter the clinic and everything Mr. Anderson tried was failing miserably. Carolyn walked out the front door and Goliath saw her coming.

Goliath immediately tried to turn and run and poor Mr. Anderson was caught off guard and landed flat on his face in the snow. He had the leash wrapped around his hand and Goliath pulled him along behind him like he was a sled, as he made a break for the road.

Randy took off after him and in one long leap, jumped and caught the large dog around the neck and wrestled him to the ground. Both Mr. Anderson and Carolyn were thankful that Goliath had a muzzle on him or Randy definitely would have been bitten more than once as the dog tried unsuccessfully to get away from the large young man.

Randy walked him back like he was leading a horse by holding on to the side of the muzzle like it was a halter. Goliath kept shaking his head and the closer and closer they got to the clinic the more and more he tried to set his feet but Randy wouldn’t let him and kept him moving at a steady pace.

Carolyn saw that it was working and she hurried to open both sides of the front door. She was thankful now that she had chosen this design when the clinic had been built.

“Lead him into the area for horses, Randy. There’s a big low table we should be able to get him on in there.” Carolyn instructed.

Randy did as she said and Randy was shocked when the large dog tucked his tail between his legs and whimpered pitifully. “Ah, poor guy. Don’t worry it’s not as bad as you are making out. Just one little poke and you will be good for a whole year.” He told the large dog.

His voice seemed to be soothing Goliath so Carolyn told him “Keep talking Randy and keep your body between him and me so that he can’t see what I’m about to do and this will be all over before he even realizes what happened.”

Mr. Anderson stood by the door and watched while Carolyn readied the shot and then snuck up behind Goliath. She quickly injected the large dog in the rump and he barely flinched as Randy pinched the dog’s ear at the same time. Carolyn was amazed to say the least. Randy managed to get the dog’s weight and they measured him for height. Carolyn examined his eyes and from what she could tell of his teeth through the muzzle, his mouth was fine.

“Oh, Mr. Anderson, it might be better if next time I come to you. If he keeps growing, he’s not going to fit in his cage much longer.” Carolyn told him.

“I know. I had to buy this truck just to be able to haul him around. He’s too big for my car anymore. I hope he doesn’t grow anymore or I won’t be able to afford him. He’s already eating a 50 pound bag of dog food every other day.”

“Wow.” Randy said.

“Well, he’s 4 years old now. He shouldn’t grow anymore and I must admit he is the biggest dog I’ve ever seen. Have you checked the Guinness Book of Records? He might qualify now.” Carolyn told Mr. Anderson.

“Mrs. Anderson is checking into it but I needed his weight and this is the only place that I know of that has a scale large enough to weigh him.” Mr. Anderson said.

“Well, he weighs 152 pounds and stands 44 inches from the floor to his shoulder. Has he been exhibiting any signs of arthritis?” Carolyn asked.

“A little, mostly in the early mornings. He seems a little stiff but we let him out and by the time he comes back, he’s usually pretty limber. We had to convert part of our garage into a kennel for him. He has chewed his way through half the furniture in the house. I’ve already had to replace our dining room set twice now.” Mr. Anderson said.

“Well, even though Goliath seems to be in good health now and I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you do know that these large breed dogs don’t live very long. He’s got another year, maybe two left.” Carolyn said. “I can give you some pills that will keep his joints limber but once the arthritis gets a good hold on him, he’s going to be in a lot of pain and unfortunately there’s not much I can do about it.”

“I know and when the time comes, I know I can count on you to make his end as easy as possible.” Mr. Anderson said with a sad look in his eyes.

“Of course. But in the meantime, enjoy him.” Carolyn said. She did not look forward to that day and hoped that it was not going to come quickly.

Randy watched as Mr. Anderson loaded Goliath back on the trailer and then looked at Carolyn. “Will you have to put him down soon?”

“No, not soon but one day yes. The arthritis has already begun but hopefully the pills I prescribed for him will help some and he will be with them for a while longer.” Carolyn said. “That is one part of the job that I do not like but having to watch him suffer would be worse.”

They went back inside and cleaned up. The puppy she had neutered was waking up and Carolyn instructed Randy on what to watch for as he regained consciousness.

“Give him water in small doses. He might throw it up at first but once he holds it down, try giving him some soft food in small amounts. Puppies have a tendency to gobble but don’t let him. He might aspirate and get the food in his lungs so only give him a little bit at a time. Then give him more water. When he’s stable on his feet again, take a warm, wet wash cloth and wipe his bottom until he pees. Be careful he doesn’t poop on you!” Carolyn laughed at the look on his face.